NYPD top cop Bill Bratton says that Syria has replaced al Qaeda as the most significant terrorist threat to the United States.
During a briefing with reporters at One Police Plaza on Monday, the commissioner highlighted Syria’s role in spreading terror because radicals fighting in the country’s civil war have acquired the skills to carry out such deadly attacks.
“The issue with Syria is it is a real live war. People are traveling in the thousands from all over the world to fight,” Bratton said. “We estimate that there are a significant number of Americans [in Syria] and when they come back, they’re going to come back with skills that they did not have when they went over there.”
The big concern, according to Bratton, is that the Americans are “probably going to be more radicalized than they were when they went over in that the sense that they were meeting with all their contemporaries.”
Bratton noted that the once-mighty al Qaeda network has been severely diminished and has made it their mission to inspire other terrorists.
“The old Osama [bin Laden] group, if you will, and his successor, their ability to reach into the United States and do another 9/11 has been significantly impacted. Their job now is more to inspire,” Bratton said.
He also pointed out that al Qadea has become more sophisticated in their ability to teach other terrorists through a magazine called Inspire.
“If you look at the sophistication of what they’re putting out, what they’re just putting out on the American suicide bomber that blew up the hotel restaurant with all the Syrian soldiers … they are really going Hollywood in terms of their sophistication,” he said. “Their English is a lot less fractured.”